Margaret Muhanga, the Minister of State for Urban Development,
By Prisca Wanyenya
The Minister of State for Urban Development, Margaret Muhanga has called for the end to individual ownership of land, and instead have all land in Uganda entrusted with Government.
She says it was wrong for the 1995 Constitution to entrust land in the hands of Ugandans as this move has hampered the development of public projects.
Muhanga made the remarks during a meeting held between the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and Parliament’s Lands Committee on 4th August 2026, where she also called for scrapping of mailo land system in Uganda.
She noted, “The land was given to the people in the 1995 constitution, which was wrong, land should belong to government. In Tanzania, government does projects so easily because land belongs to government. And I am not saying people want to be compensated, people want to be compensated, but land ultimately has to belong to the government, not to individuals because it is very difficult now to convince Ugandans that I am going to pass a road, your land will have more value. Somebody feels like so entitled and they don’t need the road, yet they need the road more than anything else.”
However, some MPs expressed reservations on the proposal to have land revert to government, arguing that this is a touchy issue that has to be handled with caution as it may cause more problems if handled simply.
“Let us not be simplistic in solving a problem. Just because government is not able to acquire land for development does not mean, therefore, that government should own all the land. I would look at the angle of valuation. What measures do we have in place to ensure that the valuation of land is fair and adequate across board? Because within the ministry and within government, we have got speculators that inflate the prices and make it very difficult for government to acquire land. Let us address those issues rather than going to the other touchy one that will affect us seriously as a country.”
The Minister also called for increased funding towards National Housing and Construction Company, but said that this investment should go alongside change in land tenure system in Uganda by scrapping away mailo land system that entrusted land to kingdoms, arguing that this has contributed to the challenges in Uganda’s land system.
She noted, “Actually, the biggest problem we face, is the land tenure system. If we had just one land tenure, mailo land should be abolished because these were injustices created at that time, and they only exist in Kingdom areas. These are a few individuals, the ones who own this land, that we can do our way with. Title the land and make sure people have a clear land ownership, because they are living, people own land here in perpetuity. Somebody is a kibanja owner, he has equitable interest in titled land. Someone else is having a title, these kinds of contradictions are purely political laws that somebody else will come and remove one day.”
The Minister also decried the lack of physical planning in Uganda wondering why a church like Phaneero Ministries should be located near Uganda Heart Institute yet patients seeking cardiology treatment require a peaceful environment during recovery.
She noted, “There is a church which is going to be next to a hospital at the institute. How do you expect a heart patient to be living in a very noisy area? They will get heart attack, and shifting a church also becomes complicated. Why can’t a church go and live in an area where there are no residences, where there are no hospitals? If you are a healing people, you are a prophet, they will find you wherever you are, you don’t have to be in the middle of residences.”
The Ministry of Lands listed several funding gaps it is grappling with including the UGX3.5Bn needed for mapping and integration of fragile ecosystems, while the development and enforcement of physical development plans requires UGX251Bn and the formation of international borders and a national boundary that needs UGX51Bn because only UGX1.3Bn was provided in the 2026/27 budget, thus leaving a funding gap of UGX49Bn.
